Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Voting

Yesterday was election day. And because I had let my absentee sign up lapse, I ended up going to the polls. As our voting booth is located at Maggie’s school, I took it as an opportunity to let Maggie come along and see the voting process, maybe get her excited along the way.

Now, I did not “educate” her on the issues or even the candidates. I’m not sure that’s what’s important right now and besides, I didn’t want her taking something she heard, but didn’t really understand to school and end up getting more confused or confusing her teacher or classmates. I think at 7, it’s more important for her to know that she should vote, someday. I explained to her that women didn’t always have the right to vote and that when her great-grandmas were little, women finally got the right to vote. Maggie asked if only men could vote before that. I told her yes. She replied “Yikes.” [My little feminist in the making]

I honestly had/have some very strong opinions about this election and our country’s leaders. I have found that the deeper I dig into the Bible, the further left I go – which seems somewhat in contrast to what one would think, at least in looking at our country. Too often, people use faith as a reason to hate, a reason to point at others. I see faith as a calling to reach out to others. I read a post today calling Christians to be the hands and feet of Jesus to reach out to sinners/non-believers [or at least the ones who are sinning in the very specific ways listed]. This is a wonderful goal. Jesus called us to to feed the hungry, care for/heal the sick, provide shelter for those who are homeless, to eat with the sinners. [99% sure this is NOT what the author had in mind, but it’s what I’m taking away from it.] I’m taking this as my call to be more of the hands and feet of Jesus. To teach my daughters to be the hands and feet, the Body of Christ. Because if we are the body: